In September 2010, the City of Toronto conducted its first Bicycle Count along four screenlines in downtown: Bloor Street, Spadina Avenue, Queens Quay and Jarvis Street. The Count provides data on how many cyclists are riding on downtown streets, when and where they are riding, and other characteristics about cyclists such as helmet use, gender, sidewalk riding and whether the cyclist is transporting a passenger.Take a look at the Summary [pdf] and the Complete Raw Data [web links].
The Count found that over 19,000 cyclists entered the downtown core and over 15,000 exited between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on a typical weekday in September. [Correction: the survey likely counted bicycle trips in and out of the downtown, rather than unique cyclists.]
Not surprisingly, the count found that people preferred riding in bike lanes, which also attracted a broader range of riders.
This Count comes as a welcome addition to the resources the City and all of us have to better address the infrastructure needs of cyclists in Toronto. Funny, also, that it comes so shortly after my last post that spoke about the need to track and count cyclists as they do in other cities such as Copenhagen.
Maybe it should be labeled 19000 bicycle trips rather than cyclists. How many cyclists were counted more than once crossing screenlines,as they went back and forth on their errands within 12 hours (including messengers)? Most cyclist probably live within 5km of where they work and shop. I do, and on a good day I'm all over the place.
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